Ned Stuckey-French-- whose discussion of E.B. White's "Once More to the Lake" at NonfictioNow was briefly discussed here-- sent the following email along and has told me I can feel free to post it here:

I apologize for sending out a mass email and I know many of you have not heard from me in ages, but I want to ask you to support of the Writers' Guild of America and this seems as good a way as any to do that.

The issue that has forced this strike is simple. The writers are asking for a fair share of the income stream from "new media" such as Internet, DVDs, etc. for shows that they write, but the studios and large media conglomerates are unwilling to share these profits. These new media are the future. The other day I asked one of my classes how many of them had downloaded a television show or movie. Every hand went up.

The issues have been brought home for me because my old friend Steve Peterman is one of the writers of the very popular Disney show Hannah Montana, which one of my daughters' favorite shows. They're always checking out the Hannah Montana web site.

I hope you'll do what you can to support the writers. I've included some links that you might find helpful.

All best,

Ned

A petition of support:http://www.PetitionOnline.com/WGA/petition.html

A short presentation outlining the essential issues:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ55Ir2jCxk

A video about the money at stake:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a37uqd5vTw

UnitedHollywood.com blog:http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/

Writers Guild of America, West Home Page:http://www.wga.org/index.aspx

A blog by Nikki Finke of LA Weekly that offers good strike coverage:http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/